


Well... This is Awkward

by TheDuchessOfArendelle



Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Awkward Romance, F/F, Femslash, Fluff and Humor, Just Awkward, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-13 07:17:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10508961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDuchessOfArendelle/pseuds/TheDuchessOfArendelle
Summary: Awkward, funny, and cute moments in the love lives of Sara Ryder and her brother. But mostly Sara. (f) Ryder/T'Perro. Femslash. Side of (m) Ryder/Brodie . One shot, but thinking of making it a series of interrelated one-shots. *NO SPOILERS.* I wouldn't do you like that.





	1. Chapter 1

Well… This is Awkward  
By: The Duchess of Arendelle

AN: NO SPOILERS. I haven't even gotten that far into the game yet to even give spoilers… Except the Dr. T'Perro turn down thing, but that's tiny. The new Pathfinder is so adorable. I'm loving Andromeda!

"SAM, can you tell me where my brother is?" Sarah Ryder asked the AI as she wandered through the lower decks of the Tempest. Scott could usually be found lurking in engineering with the also mysteriously missing head engineer, but she'd checked there 3 times already along with everywhere else on the ship, and her brother was nowhere to be found.

"Yes Pathfinder, one moment please. It seems that Scott is no longer on the Tempest." The AI informed her in his ever steady voice.

"What? He's not on the ship? Then where the heck is he? He knew we were going to go over… that… you know… that thing we talked about earlier…" She trailed off shyly, not wanting her crew to overhear her conversation.

"You are referring to the plan to go about wooing the asari doctor, Lexi T'Perro, after your initial humiliating first attempt in Sick Bay." SAM intoned. Ryder rolled her eyes.

"Yeah SAM. THAT thing. Where is my brother if he's not on the ship? We're only restocking on the Nexus for an hour then we're heading back out."

"One moment Pathfinder, scanning for Scott Ryder's signature. Located. Scott Ryder is located in the Nexus's recreational drinking area."

"The bar? He's at the bar? What is he doing there?" she asked to herself, not expecting an answer.

"Scanning. Elevated heart rate, lung capacity, and increasing spike in hormones. His vitals suggest that he is performing a strenuous activity. Cleaning up data. Scott is in the midst of coitus." SAM calmly informed her. Ryder began to gag on air as the information hit her ears.

"With engineer Gil Brodie." he continued.

"Ew...oh God no! I didn't need to, nor did I want to, know that SAM!" she continued with her overly dramatic show of disgust.

"In one of the bathrooms of the 'bar'." SAM finished.

"SAM! Christ!"

"Would you like me to call him back to the ship, Pathfinder?" SAM asked, not affected in the slightest by the information or Ryder's reaction to it.  
"No, no no no no. Let him… uh… finish? Ew, ew, oh God, ew." she continued saying to herself.

"Ryder? Are you alright?" she heard a posh British accent ask her from behind.

'Come on Big Guy, why are you doing me like this today?' she thought to herself as she slowly turned around and gave the asari doctor an awkward smile.

"Who me? Pssh, yeah. Never better. Why do… uh… why do you ask?" she asked nervously. The doctor shot her a skeptical look.

"You don't look okay. You look a little green and I heard you gagging. Are you sick? As the physician to the Pathfinder, I insist you tell me of all illness tha-" Ryder cut off the doctor before she could give her another lecture on 'Taking care of herself' and 'Being safe.' or whatever.

"I'm fine Doc, really. Fit as a fiddle, healthy as a horse, and all that jazz." she smiled again. The asari doctor shot Ryder another skeptical look before typing something into her Omni-Tool.

"Fine Ryder, if you insist. I'll be on my way then." she informed the Pathfinder. Ryder nodded her head, not knowing what to say. Never knowing what to say to the beautiful physician. Dr. T'Perro gave Ryder a single nod before turning on her heels and heading back towards Sick Bay. Just as the human Pathfinder was beginning to let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, Dr. T'Perro turned around to say something.

"Oh, and Ryder? You may want to turn SAM Node off. It's broadcasting to all open channels. We just heard your entire conversation." She informed the now mortified Pathfinder.

"Everything?" she asked, swallowing hard.  
"Everything." the doctor confirmed.

"Good luck 'wooing' me by the way." she told Ryder with a smirk as she began to walk away again.

"Well… this is awkward. *Ba-dum-ch*" SAM intoned again as Ryder stared after the doctor.

"Alec was teaching me about humor and 'lighting the mood'. Did it work, Pathfinder?" SAM asked. Ryder shook her head but smiled wryly.

"Keep working on it SAM."

AN: I don't know how SAM and SAM Node work for sure yet, but oh well! I'm thinking of making this a series of interrelated one-shots about awkward situations in the Ryder siblings life, especially their love lives. Mostly following Sarah Ryder. I kind of want a fic about Ryder trying to woo Dr. T'Perro and being a total nerd about it. Especially since T'Perro said she wouldn't date Ryder just because she was her patient. That's just begging for a story!


	2. Well.... This is Awkward Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryder gives Lexi T'Perro the weirdest gift in the world and tries to impress her. Things don't exactly go according to planned.

Well…. This is Awkward  
Chapter 2  
By: The Duchess of Arendelle

 

AN: This wasn’t supposed to be this long! It just kinda happened. Well, anyway, here’s another entry in the ‘Well…. This is Awkward’ series. Sorry if this doesn’t exactly match the game verse. I’m still pretty far behind. I’m just landing on Kandros, Scott still isn’t awake and so I’m mostly making things up. 

 

“C’mon sis, it wasn’t that bad…” Scott told the fuming brunette as he quickly trailed behind her, trying to keep up with his sister’s hasty strides.

 

“Not that bad? Scott, I’m bleeding! And I completely humiliated myself in front of Lexi.” She screamed at him, sliding down the ladder and storming into the Pathfinder quarters.

 

“Sara, I’m sor-” the apology was cut off as he heard a swish and was met with metal. Sara had locked the doors to her quarters and sat heavily on the chair in front of her computer.

 

“Pathfinder, may I just say that Scott is right. Objectively, things could have gone worst.” SAM chipped in as Sara sighed in exasperation.

 

“Could have gone worst?” She asked in disbelief.

 

55 minutes ago

 

“I don’t know about this Scott….” Sara told her twin uncertainly.

 

“C’mon, trust me sis, this will seriously impress her.” he said confidently, ushering her into the dimly lit room.

 

“This doesn’t seem safe though. What if-” Sara was cut off when Scott loudly shushed her.

 

“Shhhh, sis… I got this all under control. You want Lexi to like you right?” he asked, feeling around for the wall control panel.

 

“Well, of course… but you know how I am with needles… and blood....” she trailed off, squinting when the lights to the Med Bay fully came on.

 

“You’ll be fine… now help me get this fucker on the table.” Scott grunted as he dragged a large, thrashing body bag through the entrance. Sara sighed and walked towards her brother.  
“Lift on three, one… two… three!” The two twins heaved as they lifted the heavy bag onto the table.

 

“Okay, now let’s get him strapped in and we can get this show on the road.” Scott smiled as he unzipped the body bag to reveal an angry kett soldier.

 

“Isn’t this kind of… you know… messed up?” she asked, punching in the command to activate the metal cuffs to secure the alien to the bed.

 

“Are you kidding me? This fucker just murdered 37 angarian and human settlers on Havarl… in their sleep. They weren’t even soldiers, just scientist studying the plant life. He deserves worse than this.” Scott informed her, slight frown in place. Sara sighed and nodded.

 

“I guess you’re right… but this is such a weird ass gift. I’ve never given a girl a living specimen as a courting gift, or whatever this is, before.”

 

“Well, she isn’t a girl. She’s a 400 year old asari doctor scientist person. And she likes shit like this. Trust me.” he looked at the time on his Omni-Tool. “It’s almost time for her to get here so, I’m gonna split.”

 

The kett strapped to the bed began speaking angrily in his native tongue. “Oh my God, shut up already. We get it. We’re nothing. We’re not worthy. You will assimilate. We are Borg. It’s getting old buddy.” Scott told the alien, grabbing a towel off one of the near by trays and stuffing it in his mouth. The kett let out angry muffled sounds.

 

“Alright sis, tell me how it goes.” he said, backing out of the room with two thumbs up. Sara rolled her eyes and waved him off. 

 

After a few minutes of pacing around the room, looking at the body scans of the Andromeda animal species different crew members had brought back to Dr. T’Perro, she heard a swish come from behind.

 

“Pathfinder? What are you doing in here? It’s 5 in the morning. No one is up this early but me and Kalo. Are you injured?” Lexi asked, striding into the room with a mug of coffee in one hand and a tablet in the other.

 

“No I’m fine. You know me, I’m just hanging out… I was around. I mean… I was out… on a mission. And I uh, I got you something.” She nervously stumbled through her explanation. Lexi tilted her head slightly to the side to see where the angry grunting was coming from.

 

“You… got me something?” she asked confused. Sara nodded her head and stepped to the side. Lexi gasped.

 

“My goodness… is that a live kett specimen? I’ve been trying to get one on the ship for weeks. Tann said it was too dangerous. How did you…?” she trailed off as she quickly made her was over to the grunting kett.

 

“Well, you know. I’m the Pathfinder and all that. I can bend the rules, just a little.” she joked. She walked over to where Lexi was, already shining a light in the kett’s eyes and swiftly backing away as it tried to headbutt her.

 

“Hey!” Sara called angrily at the alien, hand on the handle of her pistol.

 

“No!” Lexi exclaimed loudly, standing between Ryder and the kett. “I wanted it ALIVE remember?” she asked, turning around and rummaging through the glass medicine cabinet.

 

“Here.” she said, turning around with a full syringe in her hand. “I’m going to inject it with this numbing serum. It will still be alive and conscious, but it won’t be able to move or feel anything. It also contains adrenaline and other chemicals that will keep it alive under the stress of dissection.” she explained. Sara paled at the sight of the large syringe. She swallowed hard and breathed out “Do, uh, would you like some help with that?”

 

Lexi looked surprised. “You want to help me dissect this live kett?”

 

Sara nodded, not able to speak because of the knot forming in her stomach.

 

“Well… okay then.” Lexi said with a smile. “I didn’t think this was your sort of thing.” she admitted, walking over to Ryder and putting a hand on her shoulder. Sara smiled.

 

“Pssh. Who me? I love this kind of stuff. It’s really, uh, really…. fascinating.” she lied.

 

“It most certainly is.” Lexi agreed with a smirk. “Now, let’s begin. I’ll hold it’s head, and you jab the needle right there in his neck.” she explained.Ryder’s eyes widened.

 

“I’m sorry what? Y-you want ME to jab him with the needle?”

 

“Yes, right there where that vein is bulging. Just stick it in and inject the serum.” Lexi nonchalantly explained, grabbing the kett’s head and using here biotics to hold it steady. Ryder nodded her head and took in a few deep breathes. With an incredibly shaky hand, she picked up the syringe, needle gleaming in the light and brought it up to the kett’s neck.

 

“My goodness, you can barely hold the needle. You're shaking terribly. Should I take over?” Lexi asked with a frown, noticing Ryder’s trembling hand and the sweat forming on her forehead.

 

“No! I mean, nope, I got this. I uh...do this all the time, just, I must be still hopped up on adrenaline from the fight. I can do this.” Sara hastily explained. Gathering up all her courage, she brought the needle to the kett’s neck and quickly stuck it in, pressing down on the pusher and releasing the numbing serum into the alien’s body.

 

“Alright, well done then. Hard part’s over. Now, Pathfinder, can you hand me that oscillating saw?” Lexi asked as she busied herself removing the kett’s chest armor and disinfecting the abdominal area.

 

“You mean this super sharp electric saw? Yeah, yeah sure. Here you go.” Sara handed the fairly light saw to the waiting doctor. Lexi looked over at Ryder. The girl was simultaneously pale and green at the same time.

 

“Ryder, are you sure you’re okay with helping? You don’t have to do this you know.” Lexi reassured the Pathfinder. Sara shook her head no.

 

“I’m fine.” she quickly said.

 

“Really?” Lexi asked in disbelief.

 

“Really.” Sara forced out, swallowing the saliva that builded up in her mouth from the nausea. Lexi shook her head but smiled at the brunette.

 

“Alright then let’s get started.” the asari doctor pressed some buttons on her Omni-Tool and all the screens in the Med Bay began broadcasting the room.

 

“The date is 009.27.2785, time is 00534, Andromeda Time. This is Dr. L. T’Perro with assistance from Pathfinder S. Ryder. We are about to take the first cut into species 4728 also known as ‘kett’. This is a live specimen that I’ve injected with Artiepinephrine to numb pain and prevent body movement. Let us begin.” the asair doctor stopped narrating and picked up the saw.

 

It wasn’t just the sight of the thick orange blood that sent Sara over the edge. She was a soldier. She’d seen blood before. It made her sick to her stomach, but she had learned to handle it over the years. No. It was also the crunching, crackling sound of bone getting sawed into and Lexi’s eerily calmed and relaxed face that made her cover her mouth and frantically look for the nearest wastebin. In her haste, she’d bumped into the supply cart that was behind her and tripped, sending her and the cart crashing to the floor. Sara flew face first into the sparkling metal tiles, slamming her nose into the ground. The crunch of her nose didn’t block out the sound of all the tools still crashing to the floor and the loud gasp she’d heard from Lexi’s direction.

 

A long silence followed the seconds after everything had settled. Sara was beyond embarrassed. As she layed on the cold metal tiles, she prayed to whoever was listening, that the ground open up and swallow her.

 

“.... Ryder, are you alri-” Lexi walked towards the Pathfinder to check on her, but was cut short when Ryder quickly stood up and hastily left the room without a word. On her way back to her quarters, she spotted Scott and Gil from the corner of her eye in the lounge and noticed a stream of the Med Bay up on the small screen they were sitting in front of. Hands still covering her nose and mouth, and blood gushing down her face, she glared at the two wide-eyed men.

 

“Scott made me do it. I told him to give you privacy but he made me hack into the Med Bay cams.” Gil quickly explained, backing out of the room and rushing back down the hall to Engineering.  
Sara turned her glare to Scott who had immediately began to apologize.

 

Now

 

The beeping at her door panel continued and she angrily got up and pressed the button to open the door. 

 

“Fuck Scott. Leave me alone, I don’t feel like talking to you right now!” she yelled, before the door was fully opened. A surprised Lexi was on the other end and Sara’s eyes widened at her mistake.

 

“..... You’re not Scott.” she said dumbly. Lexi smirked.

 

“The blue give it away?” she joked, a call back to one of their first meetings. She pulled a med pack from behind her back and asked, smirk still in place, “Mind if I come in?” Sara just nodded and moved to the side as Lexi made her way into her room.

 

“Hmm…. this is the first time I’ve ever been in the Pathfinder’s quarters. Spacious. And I see you have an affinity for model ships.” she observed. Sara blushed and looked to the side.

 

“Yeah….”

 

Silence followed as Sara looked everywhere but Lexi’s direction. Lexi sighed and shook her head.

 

“Sit on the bed please, let’s have a look at that nose.” she commanded. Sara wordlessly flopped down on the mattress and Lexi slowly sat down next to her.

 

“You know Ryder, you have nothing to be embarrassed about.” Lexi began as she gently grabbed Ryder’s face and began turning it to assess the damage. Sara scoffed.

 

“Yeah, because almost vomiting, falling, knocking over your cart and breaking my nose in the process isn’t embarrassing at all.” she said, wincing when Lexi touched a particularly tender spot.

 

“Sorry. And ok, it’s a little embarrassing. But it was also pretty hilarious.” Lexi joked.

 

“Wow, you sure know how to make a girl feel good.” Sara intoned sarcastically.

 

“I sure do.” Lexi winked. Sara turned red at the implications and Lexi laughed.

 

“But in all seriousness… I just don’t understand. Why would you go through all the trouble of retrieving a live kett for me, and telling me you would like to help with the dissection, if you weren’t comfortable with it… Deep breath, I’m about to pop the bone back into place.” Lexi asked, while she continued working on the brunette’s nose. Sara breathed in deep.

 

“I… ouch! I, I’m going to be honest with you... It was just a stupid attempt to try and impress you.” Sara admitted. Lexi smiled at the young Pathfinder.

 

“Well that is quite stupid.” she declared, bandaging Sara’s nose. Sara nodded and tried to look away. Lexi grabbed her face and turned it back towards her.

 

“Especially since you already impress me every single day. Ryder… Sara… your father died and you were thrown into the job of Pathfinder with no warning. The hopes and dreams of an entire galaxy are resting on your shoulders. And you are not only succeeding, you’re excelling beyond anyone’s expectations. Look at all you’ve accomplished in such little time. Look at all the people’s lives you’ve changed for the better. You give people hope Sara. I would say that’s already pretty damn impressive. More so than dissecting a deranged alien.” Lexi told her, smiling and still cupping her cheek. Sara smiled back.

 

“Thanks Lexi. That… means alot coming from you.” Sara told the asari doctor. Lexi nodded once.

 

“Of course Ryder.” she assured. The asari was still holding her face. Sara moved closer, their faces inches apart.

 

“Don’t be mad, I got Gil to unlock your door! Seriously sis, I’m sor-” Scott burst into the room holding a box full of Sara’s favorite snacks in one hand and a case of beers in the other. He paused when he saw how close the two were. Lexi quickly stood up and began gathering her supplies.

 

“Well Ryder, that should do it. Come by tomorrow and I’ll check more thoroughly to make sure nothing was too badly damaged. I’ll be going then. Pathfinder. Scott.” she gave a nod to each Ryder then quickly made her was out of the room. Sara was still dazed by the interruption and Lexi’s hasty departure. She slowly turned towards Scott, with a glare so fierce he actually felt like a hole was burning through him.

 

“Okay sis. I know that look. Before you get too angry, let me expla-” Scott turned on his heels and ran out of the room before his twin sister could smash his face in for interrupting her potential kiss.

 

“Oh God, she’s going to kill me.” Scott said to himself as he ran, feeling his sister inches behind him.

 

“At least she is no longer angry about the kett dissection.” SAM spoke up through Scott’s implant.

 

“Yes I am!” Sara yelled behind him.

“Nevermind.” SAM corrected himself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So... Lexi kinda gives in to peer pressure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So, kind of a spoiler ahead. I mean it’s a cannon divulgence really. Nothing too serious though. It’s just elements from a scene between Ryder and Lexi. But if you haven't played the game yet and you want zero hints then maybe not read? It’s been a year though and the game is extremely cheap now so, why haven’t you played it yet? What is wrong with you? :P

Well…. This is Awkward  
Chapter 3  
By: The Duchess of Arendelle

 

“Knock, knock.” Sara said as she waltzed in to the med lab. Confused at not seeing the blue doctor at her usual station by the computers; she looked over and saw Dr. T'Perro sitting at her desk in a dimly lit corner of the lab, head held firmly in her hands. The usually flawless doctor looked like hell and she groaned at the sound of Sara’s voice.

“Ugh. Ryder. Must you speak so loudly?” she grumbled out, rubbing her temples and cursing herself for the umpteenth time for losing control like that the night before. Sara winced sympathetically and gave a smile of apology. “Sorry.” she whispered, as she made her way over to the doctor. When the brunette stood before Lexi, the posh doctor looked up at her, face grimacing at the site of the woman. She quickly put her face back in her hands and groaned, now out of shame and humiliation.

“If you’ve come to mock me for my actions the previous night, I just ask that you please make it quick.” Lexi mumbled through her hands. She heard Ryder let out a low chuckle above her and closed her eyes tighter. She’d learned of the human concept of ‘karma’ many, many years ago, but just now truly understood the meaning. Of all the times the strong, brave, yet incredibly awkward and nervous human woman had embarrassed herself in front of her, Lexi never hesitated to tease the brunette. But now…. Well, as the human expression goes, ‘Payback’s a bitch.’

Why? Why had she gotten so drunk at that damn bar last night? Well…. she knew WHY. It had been that stupid, childish asari’s fault. Whilst giving sound medical and practical advice for the 100th time to the immature woman about NOT touching alien objects on unknown worlds without proper safety equipment to handle it, Peebee had growled in frustration and called her a ‘wet blanket.’ Had told the doctor she was too serious and that she needed to remove whatever golden stick she had jammed firmly up her ass. She’d said Lexi didn’t really care about the crew and only saw them as subjects. But that wasn’t true. She cared deeply for each and every one of them. Even Ryder… Especially Ryder. And it wasn’t the first time she’d heard that. All of her exes back in the Milky Way had said the same.

And she was tired of hearing it.

So on seldomly acted upon impulse, she’d taken her rarely used shore leave and visited the bar located on the Nexus. It wasn’t until she was two and a half bottles into her favorite wine, (that she enjoyed drinking only occasionally) she’d began to think, ‘Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.’ But another glass and those thoughts had been silenced.

So yes, she knew why she’d gotten drunk. She gave into adolescent peer pressure. But, she didn’t know why she’d felt the need to message Ryder and invite the woman to join her for a drink and…. Oh goddess….. She snapped out of her hellish thoughts at the feeling of two warm hands grabbing her own and pulling them away from her darkly blushing blue face.

“I’m not going to mock you Lexi. On a scale of 1 to Sara Ryder, this hardly registers on the ‘Embarrassing Yourself’ scale. I’ve done much worse than get drunk and invite my boss to join me in drinking and… what was it? ‘Rigorous physical activities that will show you exactly how asari mastered the art of yoga’?” Sara paused and pretended to think for a second. “Okay, maybe not way worse.” she laughed as Lexi groaned again and tried to bury her face back into her hands. Ryder stopped the blushing asari and held her hands tighter. 

“I’m sorry. I was just joking, okay?” she apologized and gave the doctor a reassuring smile. Crouching down in order to be eye level with the sitting asari physician, Sara placed one of the hands gripping the delicate blue ones on Lexi’s shoulder.

“Listen Lexi, you don’t need to be embarrassed. We all mess up from time to time. Quite frankly, I was beginning to worry that you were secretly an AI. But now, I know you’re just like us.” she joked smiling at the eye roll Lexi gave her. 

“With all seriousness, I just want you to know that we all care about you deeply, even Peebee. And we all know that you really care about us. You don’t need to go forcing yourself to be something you’re not. We like you just the way you are.” Sara reassured. “Nagging and all.” she’d said at the end, earning herself a slap on the arm from the asari doctor. Ryder laughed and didn’t miss the small smile that spread across Lexi’s lips.

“You’re... right. Thank you, Sara.” Lexi thanked the human soldier. She was really starting to warm to the idea of the woman. Sara was kind and sincere. She always wore her heart on her sleeve, and that had gotten her out of as many bad situations as it had gotten her in. She was so brave, yet not afraid to admit her weaknesses. And she was one of the best damn leaders she’d ever seen. Plus, the asari would be lying to herself if she’d said she didn’t think the brunette human was extremely attractive.

Lexi frowned in confusion as Sara’s sweet smile turned into a mischievous smirk. The brunette cleared her throat.

“So, uh, you know after I met you at the bar and escorted you back to the ship… before I left you said something to the effect of, ‘Thank you, Ryder…. I really like your ass in those space suites.’ And I just wanted you to know, from the bottom of my heart… I really like your ass too.” 

“Oh goddess. Ryder!” Lexi admonished with a groan.

“What?” Ryder asked innocently. “So I guess the yoga demo is off the table too, huh?”

Sara ran out of the lab laughing, the empty metal medical tray just barely missing her head.


End file.
